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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a distinct hepatic condition and one of the most common causes of chronic liver disease globally. Prevalence of the disease is estimated to be around 9-32% in the general Indian population, with a higher incidence rate amongst obese and diabetic patients. We conducted this study to determine frequency and risk factors of NAFLD in nonalcoholic Indian type 2 diabetic (T2DM) patients, based on elevated aminotransferase levels, defined as per NHANES III criteria.

Out of 924 patients (355 female/569 male), in age group of 25-84 years, enrolled at 189 centers across 101 cities in India, a cohort of 522 (56.5%) T2DM patients were identified as having NAFLD. Prevalence of the disease was found to be higher in females (60%) than in males (54.3%) T2DM patients; with prevalence of NAFLD varying from 44.1% in western India to 72.4% in northern states. In our study the prevalence of NAFLD increased with increasing age, with 239 (45.8%) identified patients in age group of 25-50 years and 283 (54.2%) among those aged 51 years (OR: 0.71, 95% CI: 0.54–0.92, p= 0.005); with highest prevalence recorded in 61-70 year age group, at 61.8%. The results from the study reinforced the well established clinical association of NAFLD with elements of metabolic syndrome (MetS) including dyslipidemia, hypertension and obesity; as T2DM population with these co-morbid conditions had 38%, 17% and 14% higher risk respectively, for NAFLD.